It was announced on Tuesday that The Walt Disney Company has purchased Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4 billion in stock and cash. And wasting no time, multiple new movies were also announced.

Lets just get this out of the way, I really don’t know how I feel about this as of yet. As soon as the news came out, I was bombarded from all sides asking me how I felt about this. If you know me in the slightest, you know I am obsessed with the original film (I stopped counting how many times I had seen it at 485 times, and that was about 25 years ago), and I feel that it was my love of that film that really shaped my life. From running a comic book store to my love of technology, everything stems from that midnight showing I saw when I was six-years-old in Phoenix.

As time went on, I of course loved The Empire Strikes Back, and portions of Return of the Jedi were awesome … other parts not so much. At the end of the day, however, I had three movies I loved. And that was where it all went awry.

Star Wars become … a thing. A monstrous, ever growing thing the powered an entire cottage industry of merchandise. And when the beast needed to be fed again, Lucas finally made good on a promise he had made decades earlier: He gave us the prequels.

Between Episode IV (the first film) and Episode V, Lucas announced that he had plans for a total of nine films. After Return of the Jedi, which was Episode VI, he would go back and make I – III, and then he’d move on to VII – IX. We know the first three would have to do with Luke’s father and the Clone Wars, but he never really gave us any indication as to what the third trilogy would be about. After the critical panning of the prequel trilogy, Lucas said he was done with the films, and I don’t think anyone was too upset.

What we now learn is that he does indeed have script treatments ready for all three, and Disney plans to start making them immediately. And they won’t end with IX, they will go for as long as they can.

At first I was horrified by the notion of someone else working on Star Wars, but then I thought of something … I’m excited for James Bond 24 & 25.

Ian Fleming wrote 13 James Bond novels, and a few short stories, and that’s it. We have been existing in a world of James Bond films that had nothing to do with Fleming for years now, and we now have Skyfall, a movie that some are saying is the best of the series.

Then I thought about what Disney has done with Marvel. When Disney bought Marvel in 2009 for $4 billion, everyone thought this was certain doom for the comics company, and now this arrangement has generated the third highest grossing film of all time with The Avengers.

People fretted when Disney bought The Muppets some years ago. If you saw 2011′s The Muppets you know that Disney ended up producing a fantastic film that brought the magic back to the franchise.

So franchises sometimes end up in good hands without their creators around to guide them. And heaven knows Lucas has done a lot to annoy me over the years, so I’m almost wondering if this actually could have been the best thing to happen to something that literally shaped my life.

It is Lucas that I have been annoyed with, not the Star Wars universe itself. I am still a fan of the worlds and mythology he has created, and perhaps removing him from the equation is actually for the best.

Now, for those of you who have asked where I think Episodes VII – IX will go … tune back in for my thoughts on the possible stories.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For finally began filming on Monday with a release expected some time in 2013.

The original Sin City came out in 2005 and while talk of a sequel started pretty much even before it finished filming, it has taken forever to come together. With a $40 million budget, the film went on to do $158.7 million globally at the box office ($74.1m domestic/$84.6m foreign), so while not a huge hit by any means, it did well, and the stories were definitely already in place for an easy follow-up.

The Hollywood Reporter is now reporting that almost as soon as Robert Rodriguez was done filming Machete Kills – the follow up to his Machete grindhouse film – he headed into production on the second Sin City film with co-director/series creator Frank Miller. The film is scheduled for release some time in 2013, but no definite release date has been announced as of yet.

I loved the original, and I’m very much ready for the second film. Bring it on. Will it be for everyone? Highly doubtful, but Rodriguez films rarely ever are.

[via The Hollywood Reporter]

The approach of Hurricane Sandy could definitely be felt at the box office this weekend as the East coast of the United States turned its attention to boarding up windows as opposed to buying overpriced popcorn.

In its third week of release, Argo finally scored the top spot, but with a very soft $12.3 million. Not to say that isn’t great for a third week, but it’s the second lowest amount for a number one this year. Its domestic total not stands as $60.7 million off of a $44.5 million budget.

Hotel Transylvania doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon as it brought in in another $9.5 million in its fifth week, and actually saw its theater count climb for the weekend prior to Halloween. The kid friendly monster movie has now brought in $130.4 million in the U.S.

Third place saw the first new entry of the week with Tom Hanks’ new Cloud Atlas. The movie has not done well with critics, audience reaction has been soft and the ad campaign was downright confusing. All of this resulted in a $9.4 million opening for a $100 million budget film. Not good.

Paranormal Activity 4 slipped from first to fourth to bring in another $8.6 million, bringing its domestic total to $42.6 million off of a $5 million budget. Don’t be surprised at all to see a fifth installment coming in the future.

Rounding out the top five there was a tie with Taken 2 taking another $8 million. Considering how the critics ravaged this movie, a $117.3 million result thus far off of a $45 million budget is nothing to sneeze at. Sharing the spot was Silent Hill: Revelation, but this is sure to shake out when the actuals come out.

Other new releases saw Fun Size open in number 10 spot with $4 million, and Chasing Mavericks was in 12th with $2.2 million.

Next week’s big releases are Flight, The Man with the Iron Fists and Disney’s newest, Wreck-It Ralph.

I am not a “gearhead” by any stretch of the imagination. I know how to check my tire pressure, do some very basic maintenance and where to put the gas in my car. That is about it.

But what happens when you take away the gas tank and leave me with plugging the car into a wall socket? Things get intriguing.

During my most recent visit to the TechnoBuffalo offices, I was lucky enough to discover we currently had a Ford Focus Electric on-hand for review purposes. After all the talk you’ve heard about completely electric cars you tend to think of them as either a myth, or extremely underpowered. How could I resist when Jon Rettinger offered me the keys to the vehicle when I made a run to Starbucks? You have to accept and try it out and see if it is some form of joke to drive.

It’s not. Not by a longshot.

After you hit the start button and you see the dash come to life, all you hear is the AC and the radio – SiriusXM mind you – come to life, but there are no “normal” car sounds: You don’t hear that familiar rumble of an internal combustion engine, and you almost have to wonder if the car has even turned on. Deciding to try my luck, I applied the brake, moved the shifter to reverse, and saw the in-dash display change to a back-up camera, but I still opted to look over my shoulder. Slowly easing my foot off the brake, I moved. The only additional sound added to the hum of the AC and Rob Zombie on the radio was that of the tires rolling backwards, but yet the engine still remained entirely silent.

And that, if I had any, would be my only complaint about driving an electric car. The lack of engine sounds is so foreign that you feel somewhat removed from the driving experience. Gone is the sound of the increasing RPMs foreshadowing your change of gears, and it is replaced by instant torque. As Rettinger explained it to me, think of your electric drill. The second you pull the trigger, you are at full torque, and that is how it is with this car. There is no need to build up to the power, so you simply have as much energy going to the tires as you give them by pushing down on the accelerator. The pickup from 0 to 30 was amazing, but I never really got to try going faster than that due to the area our offices are in.

There is some mysterious beast called “regenerative breaking” that helps charge the batteries back up as you drive… I have no clue how it works, I just know it’s a good thing when the little circle spins and it tells you that you are somehow putting energy back in. Yay!

Two of my biggest concerns with the concept of electric cars have been what it would do to your home electric bill and being able to charge when you’re away. To the former, Rettinger told me he his home electric bill went up a whopping $14 last month when he had the vehicle in his possession for the entire billing cycle, and that was with plugging it in every night. Essentially about the cost of three gallons of gas for an entire month’s worth of driving. And as for charging when away from home, well, that is still a bit tricky. More and more places around Southern California are adding charging stations, but you still aren’t going to be using your average fully electric car on a cross-country drive. Perhaps a Chevy Volt which can also use gas, but definitely not the Ford Focus Electric at this time. (Tesla Motors has just launched “Super Chargers” that will allow its electric cars to travel cross-country, but they are specific to their vehicles)

I’m still intrigued by hydrogen as a fuel source, but electric definitely has my attention more than ever before. There was nothing half-assed about this car. You had all of your usual car amenities down to Bluetooth connectivity for your phone, but you get the added bonus of pointing and laughing at those poor saps standing at gas stations fueling up their cars.

Consider me won over. And should electric charging ever become widespread, I would definitely be giving this a lot more thought as an option to a future car purchase.

Skyfall, the 23rd James Bond film, is just getting ready to hit theaters, and plans are well under for the 24th and 25th installments.

John Logan – the co-writer of Gladiator, and the scriptwriter for Hugo and The Aviator – approached series producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson during the production of Skyfall about an idea he had for a two film story arc. Apparently whatever it was, it impressed them, because he is already working on both scripts according to Deadline.

Daniel Craig’s contract originally expired with this new film, but he has signed on for at least two more outings as agent 007. Whatever this two film story arc will entail, it appears we will be embarking on the journey with the steely-eyed agent.

Worthy of note, though, is Quantum of Solace was was seen as a sequel to Casino Royale, and it didn’t work out as they hoped. Lets see if it goes better this time around.

[via Deadline]

Arnold Schwarzenegger is going to return to the role of Conan in The Legend of Conan.

At the end of Conan the Barbarian (1982) and Conan the Destroyer (1984) there were pre-credit scenes that showed an older, wiser Conan sitting on a throne with voice overs that said that was a tale for another day. Well, thirty years later and it seems it may be time for that story.

According to Deadline, Universal Pictures has signed a deal for Arnold Schwarzenegger to return in The Legend of Conan, and the trick is it will be a direct sequel to the 1982 film, and will ignore Destroyer and last year’s disastrous reboot.

“The original ended with Arnold on the throne as a seasoned warrior, and this is the take of the film we will make,” film producer Fredrik Malmberg Malmberg told Deadline. “It’s that Nordic Viking mythic guy who has played the role of king, warrior, soldier and mercenary, and who has bedded more women than anyone, nearing the last cycle of his life. He knows he’ll be going to Valhalla, and wants to go out with a good battle.” We’ll ignore the fact that Conan isn’t a viking … and has nothing to do with Valhalla … and he worships Crom … and … oh this has gotten bad already and the script isn’t even written.

The interesting catch to all of this? Universal wants it ready for summer 2014. Oh yes, because rushing a production is never a bad idea. Ever.

Welcome to my whipping boy film of 2014, everyone!

[via Deadline]

Ming-Na, formally of E.R. and Stragate Universe, has joined the cast of Joss Whedon’s upcoming S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series.

Agent Melinda May was originally known as “Agent Althea Rice” in the original casting sheet for the S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot. Her character broke down read as:

Agent Althea Rice – Also known as “The Calvary,” this hard-core soldier has crazy skills when it comes to weapons and being a pilot. But her experiences have left her very quiet and a little damaged.

The new description from Deadline, which broke this news, has her listed as, “Soulful and slightly damaged by her combat experiences, Melinda is an ace pilot, a weapons expert and a soldier who can — and has — gone beyond the call of duty.” It sounds as though only her name has changed, which is not remotely unheard of at this early stage of development.

Ming-Na is the second actor to join the pilot with the first being Clark Gregg reprising his role as Agent Coulson. It definitely looks like the project is taking shape.

[via Deadline]

Mockingbird Lane will make its debut on NBC this Friday night and try to drum up some viewers for this odd television event, the network is releasing some promotional videos.

I have to say, you can really see where the money went for this project, and seeing as apparently $10 million was dropped on this pilot, that’s a good thing. I have to say, the web spun dress is just awesome.

Be sure to tune in Friday if you want any hope of this show making it to a series. (And recording to DVR counts if you watch within three days.)

As promised, the full trailer for Iron Man 3 landed today, and it definitely looks as though it isn’t going to be all fun and games for Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) this time around.

I won’t spoil it for anyone who doesn’t know the story, but the guy wearing 10 rings and talking about being a terrorist? Very exciting to comic geeks.

The Paranormal Activity series took a pretty big hit with its fourth installment from the third, but it still took the top spot for the weekend.

Parnormal Activity 4 took in $30.2 million this weekend, which is still pretty good considering it had a $5 million budget, but compared to the $52 million Paranormal Activity 3 took in its opening weekend, it isn’t good. I still wouldn’t be surprised if there is a fifth one around the corner.

Coming in second was Argo, which took in $16.6 million this weekend which is only a 14.6 percent decline from its opening weekend. As I’ve said before, any decline under 50 percent for the second weekend is considered a success, so this is wildly under and means the film should have some legs.

Hotel Transylvania is continuing to hold on and brought in another $13.5 million this weekend to bring its domestic total to $119 million.

Falling to fourth place is Taken 2 in its third weekend with an additional $13.4 million which brings it up to $105.9 million domestic off of a $45 million budget. It’s doing even better overseas with $174 million, so don’t be too surprised when Taken 3 is announced.

Rounding out the top 5 is Alex Cross with Tyler Perry which opened very weak with only $11.75 million. However, seeing as a sequel is already in the words – Double Cross – don’t be too surprised if Summit finds a way to make this work.

Next week looks to be a big one with the releases of Cloud Atlas, Chasing Mavericks, Fun Size and Silent Hill:Revelation.

Dredd 3D brought in $104,000. At least it’s still bringing in something.

You have to love that we now live in a world where movie trailers get a trailer.

The first footage for Iron Man 3 has been released, but a full trailer is coming on Tuesday. The movie itself will be released on May 3, 2013 and will be the first installment in what is being called “Avengers Cycle 2″ which, naturally, will pay off in The Avengers 2 in 2015.

This teaser gives you a quick glimpse of the new (ugly) armor and about the only other thing you can make out is Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) looking as though she’s being tortured.

Tune in Tuesday for the full trailer.

Warner Brothers wants to move ahead with a Justice League movie finally, but it appears they are doing it backwards.

With a legal battle over the rights to Superman brought by the heirs of his creators, it appears Warner Brothers wants to accelerate the development of a Justice League movie. Unlike what Marvel did with building towards The Avengers by doing solo movies, an anonymous source speaking with Los Angeles Times says that the idea is to do the team movie and then spin out the heroes into their own movies.

Beyond making the audience wonder why these people would come together in a common fight, apparently Warner Brothers also thinks it’s a great idea to release the film in the same summer as The Avengers 2. Nah, this won’t backfire on them in the least!

Oh, Warner Brothers. What I wouldn’t give for you to finally treat these characters correctly instead of always rushing into things. You know, like you did with the horrific Green Lantern movie.

[via Los Angeles Times]